The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

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Apr 12, 2023

00:25:54

Joyce Lee, FAIA, LEED Fellow, is President of IndigoJLD providing green health, design, benchmarking and ESG planning services for exemplary projects and communities. She became one of 300 LEED Fellows worldwide while being on the board of trustees of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, the first LEED NC certified museum in the world. Joyce has also been on adjunct faculty at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on building healthy places and was board director of the French American Chamber of Commerce PHL. Since 2021, she has chaired the American Alliance of Museums Environment and Climate Network and serves as a Senior Advisor to Econsult Solutions. In 2022, she was appointed by Mayor Kenney in Philadelphia to serve as an inaugural commissioner for environmental justice.

She has been a Fellow at the National Leadership Academy for Public Health and one of the first LEED accredited professionals in New York City. She was the Chief Architect at the New York City OMB under Mayor Bloomberg overseeing the survey of major city-owned buildings (over 200 million sq ft) and waterfronts with the goals of enhancing long-term planning and identifying green design and development opportunities. During her tenure, the program grew over 25%. She was then the first Active Design Director, with a focus on design excellence and human health, in New York City. The Active Design Guidelines, a publication she co-authored, had won recognition from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as well as the Sustainable Building Industry Council.

Joyce is the recipient of numerous awards including the Health and Human Services Good Neighbor Award, Platinum Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies, the President's Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York State, and the Aga Khan Award from Harvard/MIT. Recognizing her career achievement, the AIA New York honored Joyce with the Public Architect Award for "her indomitable spirit, committed environmental consciousness, and extraordinary ability to bring sustainability theory and practices to the public realm."

Show Highlights

Joyce shares her vast expertise with benchmarking, NetZero, and LEED for museums.
Hear from the National Green Building Advisor on new projects and policies coming down through the federal government.
Understanding the similarities between cultural institutions around the country.
Apply best practices with educational sessions on the green accomplishments of the Smithsonian and the Guggenheim Museum.
Review resources on green practices from energy to water to waste, new transportation, cultural programming, dining and retail facilities, and how the supply chain partners can bring all of those together.
IndigoJLD manages public and private sustainability projects.
Best practices that work for museums versus other buildings.
Questions to consider to start building partnerships and connecting with firms that specialize in sustainability.

“We both agree that we learn more from our mistakes and than our successes. Absolutely be open-minded. I wish I knew back then this field was going to evolve so fast. The climate is something that is here today and is not for tomorrow. For those who are entering the field, another piece of advice with green buildings, I would say think globally and act locally.”

-Joyce Lee

Museum Magazine / July−August 2022 (PDF)

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Applying LEED to museum projects
The Well-Tempered City
J. S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier
ENERGY STAR Score for Museums
Cultural Heritage and Museums – Mind the Gap
Applying LEED to museum projects
Museums preserve history and culture
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Apr 05, 2023

00:33:13

Patrick Chopson, is the co-founder od the carbon-focused Atlanta-based startup, cove.tool. As the Chief Product Officer, he leads product development for cove.tool, a web-based software for analyzing, drawing, engineering, and connecting data for building design and construction.

A graduate of Georgia Tech with a Masters in High Performance Buildings, he is also a licensed architect with over 18 years of experience. Prior to cove.tool, he ran Pattern r+d, a successful building performance consulting and architecture firm. Multiple publications include Architect Magazine, TechCrunch, Site Selection, ArchDaily, and more.

Show Highlights

Understand the value of data-driven design.
Cove.Tool

Real-time understanding using BIN, Building Information Network.
Connecting technology and the human experience.
Trusted tools and simulations to optimize performance, product selection, design and more.
Consolidate different problems of data translation losses to promote timely decision making without issues.
Databases that link everyone involved on a project to build common understanding and immediate updates.

Why the carbon problem is a data problem.

Factors that create uncertainty to drive cost increases.

Why you need to follow the industries #hashtags.

Tips for entrepreneurs and companies to create a detailed career path that champions the work and skills of their employees.

2 things that are going to transform how architects, engineers, contractors, and anybody involved in sustainability find information to make effective choices.

AI is going to unlock and transform the industry beyond focusing operational carbon vs embodied.

How to leverage new technology to provide a higher level of service.

“Meet a lot of different teams, meet a lot of really interesting people. That started to shape my understanding of this problem isn't just like we need one or two people that know simulation. We need to change how everyone designs. How everyone thinks about the problem. Realizing that it was gonna take more data analytics and probably software to be able to pull that off.”

-Patrick Chopson

“We want to link everyone together, everyone have a common understanding of a project and then be able to see when one person makes a decision, that immediately updates using APIs or some type of connection across the internet to make sure that everyone's on the same page…And that's what will allow for low cost but high performance, low carbon buildings.”

-Patrick Chopson

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Mar 29, 2023

00:29:35

Libby Dunne is a member of SIG’s Sustainability Team and is based in San Francisco, CA. Her primary focus is within the health and wellness space, as she is primarily responsible for managing WELL and Fitwel projects, in addition to managing portfolios pursuing the WELL Health Safety Rating. She also helps to manage a variety of LEED projects, with a focus on BD+C and ID+C. Within each project she ensures that necessary information is obtained and verifies compliance through documenting and evaluating key data. Libby also teaches LEED Green Associate exam prep live courses with GBES.

Originally from San Francisco, Libby graduated from Emory University with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Environmental Science. Throughout college, Libby has worked on various research projects. Most notably, she worked on published work regarding the effects of antibiotics on bumblebee cognitive functioning. Additionally, Libby maintains a variety of credentials, including WELL AP, LEED AP BD+C, Fitwel Ambassador, and ActiveScore AP.

Libby likes to spend her free time hiking, swimming, and being with family and friends. As a certified scuba diver, Libby also has a passion for marine biology and for preserving our natural environment for generations to come.

Show Highlights

A combination of degrees in different fields compliment each other perfectly in green building work.
Interning is key to expanding your knowledge and for earning credentials that inspire your work.
Meld the client communication side with the documentation side of projects to support your clients achieving their goals.
ActiveScore AP Credential is a new and interesting credential program for the US.
Make positive wellness impacts at the corporate level by reviewing the mind and community sections on a WELL Scorecard with HR teams.
Eevie is an app that gives your team a tangible way to support individual sustainability.
WELL provides a roadmap of new programs, each with a different focus, that are all focused on health and wellbeing in the built environment.
Help your clients get their feet wet in wellness by recommending one of the three WELL ratings as a first step towards pursuing a full WELL Certification.
The flexibility of a Fitwel certification meets people where their understanding is as a manageable option for existing buildings.

“In this industry, something that's really important is just to listen, learn and absorb as much as you can. It's ever changing, there's new regulations that are coming out, so there's a lot of moving parts. Be open and willing to learn as you go throughout your career. But for someone that's kind of starting new to the industry, I think it's important to recognize that you bring a fresh perspective and a way of doing things to the table. You don't have to conform to the typical way of doing things as they've always been done. I feel like sometimes it really takes someone with that fresh perspective to kind of come in and rock the boat in a good way to make positive change.”

-Libby Dunne

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Mar 22, 2023

00:31:11

As Atelier Ten’s planning practice leader, Ben has extensive experience with urban ecology, renewable energy systems and green development assessments. He has directed numerous projects and managed the development of sustainability guidelines for a wide range of master plans on a multitude of sectors including commercial, university, government, and transportation. He has consulted on more than 100 high-performance building and planning projects including one of the first outpatient facilities to achieve LEED for Healthcare certification in New York City and a comprehensive environmental framework for Harvard Business School.

Ben is a proud recipient of the ENR New York’s Top 20 Under 40 Award, which celebrates the excellence of young professionals who represent the “Best-of-the-Best” in the construction and design field. He is a member of the University Development and Innovation Council at Urban Land Institute (ULI) and serves as Co-Chair of the ULI New York Infrastructure Council. His dedication and enthusiasm to sustainable master planning and buildings and his attention to the wellness of people and the built environment have provided a unique, cutting edge perspective to all projects throughout his career.

Ben also teaches core courses on environmental design and building services at Yale School of Architecture. He holds an MA in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a BA in Environmental Science from Northland College. Ben has also earned the rare LEED Fellow designation.

Show Highlights

Be proactive in creating a healthy building center that is flexible with metering and monitoring of these spaces too.
Atelier Ten strives to achieve higher levels of sustainability and connections.
Leverage your involvement where you can make the most impact in the climate crisis, personally and professionally.
Connecting the dots between all the different disciplines.
Hit your client goals and get as much green into the projects by motivating your design teams to find connections between their specialities.
Further and maybe even less than some of those travel carbon emissions. We still have to do that to a certain extent, but can really optimize that more than we did in the past.
Optimize what tools to use that benefit operational emissions from energy and everything from passive techniques in the facade surrounding accounting for embodied carbon.
Build resiliency in your projects to tackle climate change and “global weirding of climate trends,”for immediate and long term impact.
Tips to gain experience and fail along the way to carve out your path.

“To all of the people still getting involved in this [green building] movement and industry, it's really important because your project might inspire others - that continues it going along and we can always design things better. I think that's the kind of hope and optimism we all bring to the foray. So keep, keep going. It takes us all and there's plenty more work to be done.

-Benjamin Shepherd

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Mar 15, 2023

00:28:20

Gregory Patton is a member of the Sustainability Consulting Team at Sustainable Investment Group (SIG) as a Senior Sustainability & Energy Consultant. In this role, he oversees multiple projects related to Sustainable and Healthy Buildings. In addition to managing LEED, WELL, and Fitwel projects for clients, he also provides support to SIG’s Engineering Team for ENERGY STAR, Commissioning, and technical expertise centered around existing buildings.

Gregory joined SIG in January of 2022 and brings two decades of operational experience to the team. Throughout his career he has successfully operated and managed numerous large commercial buildings as well as sustainability programs for clients. Gregory’s deep understanding of building systems and his passion to create a Sustainable and Healthy Future has enabled him to excel in the sustainability space. Gregory holds professional accreditations for LEED O+M, LEED BD+C, LEED ID+C, LEED ND, LEED HOMES, LEED Green Rater, WELL, Fitwel Ambassador, BREEAM In-Use Assessor, and ActiveScore AP.

Originally from Florida (GO GATORS), Gregory has adapted to Colorado life and can be found outside enjoying the 300+ days of sunshine and blue skies that Colorado has to offer. He enjoys hiking, kayaking, live sporting events, and traveling with his wife and son.

Show Highlights

Greg’s entrepreneurship journey to build a top sustainability team.
See the value of LEED and everything it touches beyond design and construction.
Manage a smooth transition from residential to commercial builds.
Tips for recommending tools and systems that provide a good maintenance model for clients to hit their performance goals.
Why BREEAM is a great certification system to use and recommend.
Achieve decarbonization goals in the environmental space for your clients.
Follow your curiosity and prioritization credentials dedicated to meeting your goals.
How to build longevity and contribute to the success of the green building movement.

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Mar 08, 2023

00:26:18

Ramana Koti, LEED Fellow, is the Sustainable Design Leader at HKS Architects responsible for sustainable design facilitation and building performance analysis. His focus is on getting projects off to the right start with an inclusive and integrative effort, measuring progress against goals, and delivering a quantified outcome.

Ramana has published several technical papers on daylighting and energy performance in buildings and regularly blogs on green building related topics. He volunteers with the AIA 2030 Working Group and the USGBC at the local and national levels.

Ramana has been a certified ASHRAE Building Energy Modeling Professional (BEMP) since 2015 and was designated a LEED Fellow in 2019.

Show Highlights

Tools that help push the industry with daylight analysis and energy modeling.
Ramana shares his experience with managing commercial mixed use practice all wrapped in one project.
Start the projects off on a right footing to make sure the initial goals and strategies are being implemented.
Packaging certification efforts at the end to achieve the targeted certification levels.
How do you share LEED best practices amongst a large team?
Incentives from the inflation reduction Act put the industry on a broader path to decarbonization and making buildings much more greener than they are.
Tips on coaching your team on embodied carbon.

“I wish somebody had told me change happens, but it happens more slowly; because when you're young, energetic, & hungry to affect change, you become anxious when results don't happen within the expected timeframe. But once you spend 10, 15 years in a field…things have a way of compounding and happening. And to quote Lao Tzu, "Do your work and then step back.'"

-Ramana Koti

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Think Again (book)
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Mar 01, 2023

00:55:03

As commuting trends evolve, influenced by global events and the rising cost of fuel, the built environment needs to reflect and support these changes. Updates to planning policies and urban design can take years, resulting in old solutions for new problems. Green certifications like ActiveScore allow new standards to be implemented quickly and in sync with industry trends.

What You Will Learn:

You will understand what Active Travel is.
You will understand what ActiveScore does.
You will learn about the relationship between Active Travel and ESG.
Learn how well-designed Active Travel facilities in buildings can positively impact tenant experience.
You will learn about ActiveScore’s free AP Program.

This webinar can be self-reported for one half-hour of LEED or WELL continuing education.

James Nash has founded 3 companies. The first was Bike Dock Solutions in 2008 which started life as a university project.

Much of his focus currently is on ActiveScore which helps building owners and developers improve their cycling and active travel facilities. They have helped design and certify 350+ developments in Europe, US, Asia, Middle East and Australia-including 22 Bishopsgate in London, which is the largest office building in Europe. Clients include Blackstone, Brookfield, Lendlease, Invesco, Vornado Realty Trust, BentallGreenOak, GID, JLL, CBRE, Savills, Knight Frank, Colliers, Perial, AXA IM, PATRIZIA, Bruntwood, and EcoWorld. ActiveScore is recognised by GRESB as a design and/or construction green building certification scheme. He has also been an advisor to WELL Certification on all things Cycling and active travel related. For real estate sustainability/mobility consultants and architects they have an extremely popular free AP Programme with over 500 AP's from over 40 countries.

Alex Georgiadis is the Head of Consultancy at ActiveScore. He oversees all of the certification and design projects ActiveScore works on. Alex has a design background and his passion is cycling. So much so, he spent some time working as a mobile bike mechanic, servicing commercial office buildings around London. This gave him great insight into the issues cyclists regularly face when commuting. He now regularly uses this knowledge to educate building owners and improve the active travel facilities within buildings across the world.

David Reed is an entrepreneur who is passionate about solving problems with sustainable solutions. A leader in sustainable mobility, he has 13+ years of experience generating new revenue and building partnerships with and for municipalities, universities, startups, corporations, and real estate companies. He is a coalition builder and problem solver, deeply invested in colleague and client shared success. David's clients and partners have included the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

Show Highlights

Active Score is this intersection of transportation, sustainability and the built environment.
Components and benefits of Active Travel

Assess and certify buildings being active travel friendly.
Help organizations and developments become future-proof by creating sustainable infrastructures and services.
Only globally recognized accreditation for active travel amenities in real estate.
Provide engagement services that set up active travel user groups within buildings.
Employer retention

Active Score can help identify commuting trends within a region or group, connect with rating systems and ESG with their clean air calculator.
LEED benchmarks and credits Active Score blends with to determine which is the best standard and certification to align.
Active Score design benefits

Creating a more efficient and streamlined design process for both the client and the design team.
Build understanding of what makes a good active travel facility.
Design consultation and the design lab services.

Active Score certification can be applied to both existing and new developments.

“In terms of other benefits of Active Travel, health and wellbeing. I'm sure you are all familiar with how Active Travel can help an individual's health and wellbeing. The stat from this report that is very interesting is how 82% of people that were surveyed said they felt less stressed when they arrived in the office after cycling to work. So health and wellbeing. Active travel can have a huge impact on health and wellbeing”

-James Nash

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Feb 22, 2023

00:24:00

Amy D’Angelo is a wellness real estate professional with over 20 years of experience. Her wide range of interests over the years have included launching a healthy food business to managing facilities for an international non-profit. Her current passion is focusing on helping busy professionals and families achieve wellness at home by creating simple and affordable strategies that are based on the best practices of the wellness real estate movement. Amy believes that by making small and positive changes, in our homes, in the food we eat or the ways that we handle stress, we can inspire those around us to live a healthier, more fulfilled life. Responsibilities

Amy D’Angelo is the Director of ESG for Sustainable Investment Group. In this role, Amy provides leadership to the ESG department and works with some of the country’s largest REITs to identify and manage risks that pertain to environmental, social and governance issues. She also is leading our Corporate Sustainability Program with a particular focus on the “S” – empowering women within our organization and ensuring that we can have the greatest impact in the communities where we live. Additionally, Amy provides wellness content and webinars to SIG’s education partner Green Building Education Services (GBES).

Education

Amy graduated from the University of Florida with a B.A.in English and a minor in Political Science. She is also a WELL AP and a Fitwel Ambassador.

Experience

Amy brings 20+ years of business, leadership and entrepreneurial experience to this position. Her experience in building programs and leading teams in executive management positions for both nonprofit and for profit organizations gives her a unique perspective into ESG. Amy’s passion for innovation in ESG, especially the “S” social aspect is founded in her core value to “effect change that positively impacts the people in all organizations”, in addition to helping her clients positively impact the communities where they live and work.

Interests

Amy spends her free time outside and enjoying the natural resources in the community where she lives, kayaking, biking or just walking on the beach. When she isn’t outside, you can find her cooking for her family, playing with her dogs or tending to her vast collection of indoor plants.

Show Highlights

The biggest evolution with green washing and transparency in the industry.
Being able to pivot to embrace ESG data and reporting.
Essential questions to consider to shift from corporate sustainability to ESG wellness for employees and occupants of our buildings.
The secrets to the ESG umbrella and where companies should focus first.
The ESG team at SIG provides opportunities to use all of the big reporting functions and frameworks correctly.
The Energy Star program supports data you can trust and verify.
Preparation for climate related risk ties directly into resiliency.

“We're seeing the shift to ESG. Prior to the pandemic, we weren't talking about ESG, we were still talking about corporate sustainability. The pandemic really highlighted wellness in a way that we hadn't seen before. The green building industry really moved the focus into the health and wellbeing of people. That really shifted the conversation from ‘we have to just build green.’ No, it's not just about building green, it's also about making sure that our facilities are green on the inside for our people.’”

-Amy D'Angelo

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